I fucked up, but that’s not out of the ordinary. I’ll cover a couple of oblique building philosophies in this simple tech. Choppers are rolling art in a constant transitional stage. As soon as I ride a rumored completed bike, I discover shit I want to improve on. In this case the seat, to name one of a few items. It was comfortable, but too high and flat. I slid off under any acceleration. I was forced to install even taller springs, just to get down the block. The key was the shape of the seat pan. It needed to flip up in the back. That’s where Todd’s cycle seat pan came into play. Todd makes a killer pan, ready to send to the leather guy, in my case, Glenn Priddle in Australia.
Okay, the Memorial Day 2007 Monday Motorcycle Mantra includes the constant search for artistic perfection, functionality and performance. I discovered my design error when Jeremiah rolled his bike into the Bikernet Headquarters and I spotted the Todd’s Cycle seat pan. It was complete with bungs, with a gentle radius, and the leg areas were bent down for comfort, so I bought one.
I could've bought it with all the bungs welded in place, but I asked Todd to tack the seat tongue tabs, since he has a jig, and I took the spring tabs with me.
I’m tired of fighting the cylindrical springs, which I’ve been grappling with for three decades. In this case, they smacked the battery and they’re a bitch to install. I’ve always been intrigued by these heavy duty sprung wires from Custom Chrome. It’s vital to check out the fit, spacing, travel, clearance and look of even simple seat springs. You’d be surprised what can go awry.
Here’s the second Motorcycle Mantra for the day, and I’m not sure how to word it. Something like measure twice, cut once, or never assume (there’s that word) any damn thing. I’ve been hammering on our Bonneville Assalt Weapan daily for a few weeks, and I decided to take a break and mount this seat pan, in an hour, then prep it for shipment Down Under. Yeah, right.
I assumed that my existing seat tongue was cool, so I bolted the new pan to the tongue readily and mounted it. Then I used a cut-off wheel on my air tool and cut the nipples off the frame bungs. I carefully drilled them with a small guide holes then a 17/64 drill for taping 5/16-16 threads. All went sorta smooth.
Next, I carefully set the seat in place and marked the bottom of the pan. I clamped the bungs in place and tacked them. That’s another key word, tack. Rick Krost from U.S. Choppers taught me about tiny tacking so as not to harm any element of your project. That works in some cases and not in others. You can’t bend a minuscule tack. It immediately breaks. So depending on needed flexibility the tack must be denser.
At this point, I bolted the springs to the seat pan and tried it out. I needed to bend the tacks and one immediately broke. Something was bothering me about the entire operation. I was focused on the springs not rubbing any components, but I hadn’t sat on the damn thing. That’s the primary lesson for the day. No matter what you're changing, start with the most basic premise first.
As it turned out, the Todd’s seat pan, because of the flip, was shorter than my last one. The first thing I needed to do was to put a pillow or a rag under the pan, slip it into the position that felt right, and work up from there. I did, and the entire tech fell into place. I extended the tongue almost 2 inches.
Then I bolted the springs to the frame and set the seat down on the extended tongue with the bungs bolted in place.
Next, I centered the seat by drawing a string over the bars from the headlight mount, right down the backbone of the frame to the center of the tire. I eyeballed it as best I could, then measured the bung placement from the edge of the seat on both sides. It’s tough with frames widened on one side for fat tires. I centered Todd’s seat pan as best I could and tacked the bungs in place for a perfect fit to the springs.
I yanked the pan, finished the welds and voila! She’s ready for the steam ship to Australia. I'll bring you the seat- makin' tech in the near future. Currently, Glenn is studying the meaning of life at a mountain Buddhist retreat.
Todd's Cycle
15665 Commerce Lane
Huntington Beach, CA
92649
(714) 901-4516phone
(714) 901-4526fax
E-mail: todd@toddscycle.com
